


Bare Your Teeth

by BelaBellissima



Category: All For The Game - Nora Sakavic
Genre: Alternate Universe – Canon Divergence, Death-threats, I just knew I wanted to write it differently, Knives, M/M, Murder, Neil breaks their yes/no rule and just kisses Andrew, Threats, aka my favorite quote in the whole series, cheesy endings because I had no clue where I was going with this when I started it, outing someone, sometimes…. things that are murder…. Are okay…., that one scene in the king’s men that fucks me up every time
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-19
Updated: 2018-02-19
Packaged: 2019-03-21 02:54:57
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,906
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13731621
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BelaBellissima/pseuds/BelaBellissima
Summary: “Thank you,” Neil said, stepping forward into Andrew’s space. “You were amazing,” he murmured, begging for forgiveness with his eyes as he leaned in and kissed Andrew in front of everyone. Andrew froze, his arms coming up halfway, well within Neil’s reach. He let his hands rest by Andrew’s elbows, fingering the edges of his armbands until he could feel the handles of the two knives kept there.Or: Neil makes a different choice.





	Bare Your Teeth

**Author's Note:**

> Hey-o it's ya girl with a new fandom  
> Also I was supposed to work on the next chapter of Invictus but instead I started and finished this because I have no self control :)  
> This is barely edited at all and I actually only started writing it about six hours ago, so if you spot any mistakes let me know.  
> Anyway, Enjoy!!  
> Title from the song Bare by WILDES

He knew Andrew likely wouldn’t forgive him for this, but he could think of no other way to get close enough without Jackson and Romero figuring it out.

Andrew already knew something was up, could see through his mask to the panic and helplessness underneath it. He knew something was wrong, but not what exactly what it was, and Neil had to protect him and the rest of the Foxes. Speaking in German was out, speaking in French was out, and what he was considering now would shatter the fragile trust that had been building between them, but he knew he had to do it anyway.

“Thank you,” Neil said, stepping forward into Andrew’s space. “You were amazing,” he murmured, begging for forgiveness with his eyes as he leaned in and kissed Andrew in front of everyone. Andrew froze, his arms coming up halfway, well within Neil’s reach. He let his hands rest by Andrew’s elbows, fingering the edges of his armbands until he could feel the handles of the two knives kept there.

“Holy shit,” Allison said, and Neil heard as she slapped her hand against someone’s arm and demanded they pay up. Andrew was still frozen, and the rest of the team was stunned into silence.

Neil began to pull the knives out. He didn’t want to do this in front of the Foxes, didn’t want to see their horror as he took two lives in front of them, but they were his _family_. His mother had been willing to die and to kill for him, and Neil was willing to do the same. It didn’t matter that he’d never killed anyone before; he knew how to use the knives and he had the will to follow through.

Andrew twitched, his arms beginning to pull back when he realized what Neil was after, but a quick nip of his bottom lip stopped him again, giving Neil enough time to slide them out far enough to have a solid grip on the handles.

He finally pulled back from the kiss. Andrew’s eyes were hard, staring at him with the dangerous anger Neil knew he should run from. Neil hadn’t missed Andrew not kissing him back.

Neil took one last moment to look at him, then one last look around his family. Wymack had dropped the cigarette from his mouth, and Nicky was grabbing Allison’s hand in excitement. Kevin was clearly confused as to why Neil had done that, but Renee was looking at him with her own brand of flinty curiosity. She was angry at him but was holding out for an explanation.

Neil pulled the knives farther from Andrew’s armbands, making sure they were still hidden from Romero and Jackson.

“Ready?” he asked, looking back at Andrew.

There was a moment when Neil though Andrew would just walk away, but he nodded once. Neil took one deep breath, and on the exhale, let a knife fly through the air. Romero was in front of him, an easy enough target for Neil, especially when he was expecting Neil to go quietly. The blade struck his throat, sticking out even as Romero began to choke on his own blood. In another second, even before anyone but Andrew knew what had happened enough to scream, Neil had turned, putting himself between Jackson and the Foxes.

Jackson was already pulling out his gun, and Neil let the second knife fly, hard enough that when it hit Jackson’s hand it pushed it against the wall and kept it trapped there. Jackson screamed in pain at the same time Abby screamed in shock, and in moments Neil had stepped within reach, stolen his firearm, and popped two bullets into his chest. Turning, he checked that Romero wasn’t about to start firing his own gun, fired another two bullets into his chest, and, with cold satisfaction, watched as the light left his eyes and his body slipped down the wall to thump against the floor.

The whole thing was over in less than ten seconds.

Neil finally lowered the gun, letting it fall to the ground with a clatter as he looked at his family. Most looked horrified, the only exceptions being Andrew and Renee, each used to that kind of violence.

Andrew stood in front of him, his bored expression back on his face. Neil stepped up to him in the silence of the team, looking at his jaw when he found he couldn’t look him in the eye.

“I’m sorry,” he whispered. “I couldn’t think of any other way to get them.”

Andrew said nothing, and Neil stepped by him to approach Romero’s body, taking it for a dismissal. The team finally started to react, Allison screaming at him. They were freaking out, each trying to be heard over the rest as they demanded panicked and fearful answers. Kevin backed away from him, letting him walk by unhindered. He was surprisingly silent, but he looked murderous and scared just like the rest of the team.

Neil pulled out Romero’s phone and dialed Lola. “Shut up,” he ordered the room as it dialed, and they thankfully all fell quiet at his direction just as Lola answered the phone.

“What is it?” she snapped. “Are they almost out?”

“Hello, Lola,” Neil said. He almost didn’t recognize his own voice, and the part that did recoiled. He sounded more like Nathaniel than Neil in that moment. A larger part of him relished in it, embraced it, and fully slipped into the role as he spoke on the phone.

“Junior?”

“You shouldn’t have threatened my family, Lola. You can’t kill me and mine, but that mean I can’t kill you and yours. Romero and Jackson figured that out in their last moments, I’d assume. They didn’t really have much time to think in the end. I know you’re more a fan of the slow, painful death, but the way I see it, a quick and unexpected one can cut someone else just as much, if not more.”

Lola was silent on the other end of the phone.

“I killed Romero, Lola. You do get that right?” Neil said, and he relished in the way Lola finally made a noise on the other end of the line: angry, vengeful, and threatening. “How peculiar that it was the skills you and my father trained me in that brought him down, you’ll be glad to know. A knife to the throat and two bullets to the chest from Jackson’s gun.”

Lola snarled at him, an inhuman sound. Neil could imagine her stalking back and forth wherever she was in barely leashed primal fury.

“You better run, Lola. You’re next.”

Neil snapped the phone closed, held it for a moment, then dropped it and fell backwards, scrambling back from Romero’s body until his back hit one of the couches.

“What the hell, Neil?” Wymack shouted at him a moment later. “You just murdered two security guards!”

“They weren’t guards,” Neil mumbled.

Andrew moved, coming over to crouch by Neil. He reached out and grabbed his chin, pulling it away from Romero’s direction to him. Neil finally looked him in the eye. There was still anger there, but Neil knew he could at least make it slightly easier on Andrew. He had ruined everything between them by kissing him in front of everyone, especially without asking first, but he didn’t have to include outing him before he was ready.

“I’m sorry for kissing you,” he managed to say, loud enough that everyone listened in again. “I know I – I mean, I know you don’t feel like that, but I couldn’t think. I didn’t want to make you uncomfortable. They were here and threatening everyone and going for a racquet would have been too obvious, but they didn’t know about your knives, and having you mad at me for kissing you is worth it if it means you’re alive. It won’t ever happen again.”

He thought that did it, implied enough that Andrew wasn’t attracted to him. Renee would know, of course, but hopefully no one else.

“You’re an idiot,” Andrew said, then leaned in and kissed him back. Neil felt his whole body relax, and he leaned closer when Andrew finally pulled away, letting his head fall to Andrews shoulder.

“Someone needs to tell us what the hell is going on before someone comes in and sees this clusterfuck,” Dan finally spoke up. She still had a tremor in her voice, but the Captain in her was locking it down to protect her team.

“Those guards worked for my father,” Neil said, his voice muffled by Andrew’s shirt. “They threatened you all. If I didn’t go with them they would’ve hurt everyone. I couldn’t let them, but I couldn’t let them take me to my father either.”

“And who exactly is your father, Neil?” asked Renee, her voice a calming balm for the tension in the room.

Neil shook his head and closed his eyes. He didn’t want to say it, not when he was still so close to the edge of Nathaniel.

“Kevin,” he croaked into Andrew’s shoulder.

Kevin got the hint. “Neil’s father works for the Moriyama’s. He’s one of their assassins, goes by the moniker The Butcher of Baltimore. I’ve seen him kill before, and this is nothing compared to it.”

“He’s free,” Neil whispered, and only Andrew heard him. “He’s been out on parole for months and I had no clue. He found me. He’s coming for me. I can’t stay here.” His breath hitched. “I want to stay here. I don’t want to leave. I want to be Neil Josten.”

“So be him,” Andrew said, his hand reaching out to grab Neil’s wrist tightly. Neil jerked in surprise, but Andrew held on.

Wymack let out a weary sigh, rubbing a hand down his face as he tried to think of what to do. It was a testament to how fucked up the Foxes were that they had already largely moved on from witnessing a double-murder to how they were going to get out of it.

“Neil, I’m sure you want to keep this quiet, but there’s just no way. I’m going to have to do… something.”

Neil nodded, his face rubbing against the soft material of Andrew’s shirt. It grounded him as he spoke.  “I was going to go to the FBI after Championships anyway. Don’t hide anything. I’ll do everything I can.”

Wymack huffed a curse under his breath as he left. Neil all at once felt the stares of his teammates on his back and tensed, forcing himself to lift his head from Andrew’s shoulders to look at them head on.

“I –” he began but stopped. “I don’t. Want.” He kept stopping, not quite sure what he was trying to say to them, if he was trying to apologize for the shock or explain that he finally felt like he belonged somewhere for the first time in his life or if –

“Shut up Neil,” Andrew said, tugging on his wrist so that Neil folded back against him. “You’re not going anywhere.”

No one else protested, and Neil finally felt himself relax completely. Lola and his father were still out there, they still had to beat the Ravens in the Championships, and Neil’s actions to protect the Foxes were sure to cause more trouble in the future, but in that moment, he was safe, he had his family, and they had him.

**Author's Note:**

> [Find me online](https://linktr.ee/belabellissima)


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